LATEST

After nearly two years of teasing, Cheese School is finally here! April 4-7, 2013! Enrollment is limited–register now!

We have a handful of openings for Fiber School (Yarn School + Felt School + FREE Dye Lab), Yarn School, and Felt School, plus a couple add-on Dye Lab spots for people attending just Yarn School or just Felt School.

REGISTER NOW!

We’ve had a lot of inquiries. Yarn School is definitely still on as usual this spring, but with all the extra work of the tornado recovery efforts, I won’t have ample time to dedicate to Cheese School, so we’re postponing that until this fall. I will definitely email everyone on the cheese list as soon as we nail down the dates.

For all who have been asking, at this point, we’re not sure if the storm system that spawned the tornado that destroyed half of Harveyville was large enough overall to qualify for FEMA aid. But we’ve had help from many generous groups and we keep hearing of new programs and grants on our behalf every few days.

If you want to donate:

Please donate through the United Way of Flint Hills –specify HARVEYVILLE TORNADO RELIEF in the “Focus Area” to guarantee the funds will come directly to Harveyville.

The United Way guarantees that 100% of all dedicated funds come back to the community. They do not deduct any administration fees (those costs, including salaries, mileage, etc., all come from their general fund and separate fundraising). They also offer a fair and documented evaluation and distribution of funds, and all of your donations are tax-deductible.

The best way to donate cash is through the United Way of Flint Hills (click DONATE NOW). The donations are tax-deductible and will go directly to our community. Please specify HARVEYVILLE TORNADO RELIEF  in the “Focus Area” field of your donation form to guarantee the funds will come directly to Harveyville.

Thanks for all the well wishes we’ve gotten over the last few days. Ron and I and all of the animals are fine. If you haven’t heard, Harveyville was hit by an EF-2 tornado late Tuesday night. We had no warning there was a tornado coming. There was a thunderstorm warning and a regional tornado watch underway, but that’s pretty much the standard here all spring, and February isn’t really considered tornado season yet.

Ron just happened to be standing in the front hall when it swept by, and he actually saw our old motel chairs get sucked off the front porch (they landed in the city park behind the school). We had some roof damage to the grade school and lost a good chunk of our quirky handmade fence, but we’re in great shape, especially compared to the awful damage suffered by so many Harveyville residents.

If you haven’t seen the the images on the news, it’s pretty devastated here. Many, many homes were utterly destroyed.  We’ve had a lot of volunteer help coming into town, and they’ve done an amazing job helping with the cleanup. If you want to volunteer, you can get info at unitedwaytopeka.org. There’s a great system in place and the Red Cross is feeding volunteers 3 meals a day. If you live nearby and plan to pitch in, you have to go to Mission Valley School. They’re making everyone register, both for safety and liability issues, and because they town has to carefully track all volunteer help received if they apply for aid in the future–and because we are a tiny town and there’s just not much room here. They’re busing volunteers in from the school (not us; the current school).

There are many people who lost everything. If you want to donate:

Monetary Donations are being collected through United Way of the Flint Hills. Donations can be made online using a credit card at www.uwfh.org and clicking the Donate Now link. Donations can be sent to United Way of the Flint Hills, Attn Harveyville Tornado Relief Fund, 702 Commercial St., Suite 2-Ej, Emporia, 66801. Phone number is: (620) 342-7564

The nearby city of Burlingame is organizing a donation drive here.

And for all who have asked, yes, Yarn School is still on!